Maps of free of charge - 4/ Fare-free public transport in the 2020 municipal election platforms

A week before the first round of the municipal elections, the Observatory of Cities with Free Transport examined the platforms of the candidates. Are many of them talking about fare-free public transport, to position themselves in favor of it?

The Observatory has identified 110 municipalities with more than 20 000 residents with at least one candidate in the municipal elections offering entirely free-of-charge public transport. Note the particular treatment of the metropolis of Lyon, deliberately and perhaps unduly considered by us as "a single municipality" on this map; its residents voting for programs established at the level of metropolitan jurisdiction.

The 109 cities identified are ranked according to the number of candidates offering entirely free-of-charge public transport in their electoral platforms:

1 candidate.- 77 cities

2 candidates.- 21 cities

3 candidates.- 8 cities

4 candidates.- 4 cities (Perpignan, Bourges, Creil, and Caen), where the chances of seeing free access are therefore extremely high at the end of the election.

How do these candidates stand on the political chessboard?

There are more left-wing candidates, at 59.5% (NPA, Lutte ouvrière, PC, France insoumise, PS, various left).

Entirely free-of-charge transport is also proposed by candidates from lists declaring themselves to be citizens (17.3%), candidates without a party affiliation (9.6%), and environmentalist candidates (9.6%).

The candidates of the center and the right share the remaining 4%: 2.6% for the Republic on the move and the UDI, 0.6% the various right, and 1.9% the Republicans. Only one National Rally candidate (0.5%) is in favor of fare-free public transport.

As a reminder, of the 35 cities that currently practice entirely free of charge public transport, 40% are on the right of the political spectrum, 22.9% in the center, and 37.1% on the left.

What should we conclude from this?

For the first time, free-of-charge public transport is at the core of the issues at stake in municipal elections. There are numerous candidates in favor of it. It will be interesting to examine the results of this election in the context of this proposal. If they win the elections, the new mayors will have to ensure the acceptance of their project by the other mayors who are also decision-makers within the intercommunalities, which are, lest we forget, the level of engagement where the implementation of mobility policies for a given area is decided.

Methodology

This mapping is the result of five months of monitoring of the municipal elections of 15 and 22 March 2020. The Europresse tool was used to allow for an exhaustive census of cities where there is at least one candidate for the next municipal elections who proposes entirely free-of-charge public transport.